tuning and European climate

[Richard Brekne]

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Gevaert Pierre wrote:

> Hi list, Maybe this is a question for one or more European
> subscribers to this list (Isaac, Andre, Richard?)In fact,
> I was wandering about the diagrams of the anual indoor
> humidity cycles as shown in the books of Larry Fine,
> Reblitz or the Dampp-Chaser brochure, and if these are
> comparable with the West- European cicles.

I think this is going to vary a bit around Europe as it does
in the states. But here in Norway we run about 70 % RH in
the summer months, and are down around 20 - 25 % in the
winter. Small variances around the country really, with the
inland areas in general being a bit more dry, and in the
winter time colder.

>  The other thing I was wandering about is to know when
> should be the best moment to tune pianos in
> musicschools(they ask their pianos should be tuned only
> once a year and no Dampp-Chasers)It looks to me that some
> pianos have a great pitch drop in the middle section after
> New Year, so those should certainly be tuned twice?In the
> Piano Book, Larry Fine says that tuning pianos twice a
> year is not ideal (to much pitch adjustments)Thanks for
> any comments, Pierre Gevaert,Belgium

I like to tune schools in late September here, as we are
well into the fall season and pianos have already moved well
into that climate condition. Seems to work pretty well. Tho
as most schools dont tune more then once a year they end up
having to live with pretty sour pianos in the winter months,
while in the middle - late spring they (the pianos) "come
back" a bit and sound better.

I do not aggree with the argumentation that a piano suffers
from being tuned twice a year on two counts. Number one,
minor pitch adjustments can hardly be of any real
consequence to the instruments life compared to other
determinant factors, and number two.... if one insists
otherwise it is perfectly feasable to float pitch in most
(98% ??) situations. Further there are other ways of dealing
with pitch changes and related stability issues such as Damp
Chasers and the like.

I tune two schools that I have on contract 4 times yearly.
Gives me plenty of time to also pay adequate attention to
other aspects of the pianos function.

Cheers

RicB




--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
UiB, Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html


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